Alante

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Alante
Common elephant (Inula helenium)

Common elephant ( Inula helenium )

Systematics
Euasterids II
Order : Astern-like (Asterales)
Family : Daisy family (Asteraceae)
Subfamily : Asteroideae
Tribe : Inuleae
Genre : Alante
Scientific name
Inula
L.

Elecampane ( Inula ) is a plant genus in the family of the daisy family (Asteraceae). The approximately 100 species of mainly deciduous and perennial plants are widespread in the Old World , but their countries of origin are Asia , Africa and parts of Europe .

description

Appearance

In terms of appearance, Alante can be roughly divided into higher and lower species . The higher species include the common elephant (Inula helenium), the giant elephant (Inula magnificum) and the grape elephant (Inula racemosa). They are characterized by rather coarse and broad, alternate leaves and develop relatively large flowers that stand alone or in groups on long, strong stems. Lower species such as the dwarf elephant (Inula ensifolia) have narrow leaves and solitary flower heads at the end of each stem. Inula rhizocephala remains the smallest at ten centimeters and forms low leaf rosettes .

Vegetative characteristics

Alant species are mostly perennial , rarely annual , herbaceous plants , rarely shrubs . The appearance of the individual alant species varies greatly, the height alone ranges from ten centimeters, plants suitable for rock gardens , to tall perennials that reach over 2 meters in height. In these large species, the leaves can reach a considerable size. Most species grow as clumps , some spread through rhizomes . The simple leaves are sometimes narrow-lanceolate, sometimes broadly elliptical, can be hairless or hairy, and are basal or alternate on the stems . The leaf margins can be smooth, serrated or serrated.

Generative characteristics

The flower heads stand individually or often grouped together in differently structured inflorescences . The flower heads usually have a diameter of 10 to 40 millimeters. The bracts are in four to seven rows. Chaff leaves are available.

The flower heads contain ray and tubular flowers. Outside there is a wreath with (rarely 15 to) mostly 50 to 150 zygomorphic ray- flowers (= ray-flowers). Inside there is a disk with (rarely 50 to) usually 100 to over 250 radially symmetrical tubular flowers (= disk flowers). The overgrown petals of both flower types are yellow to orange. The flowering time always falls in summer.

The often four- to five-ribbed achenes have a single-row pappus .

Location and soil

Depending on the species, the elephant grows on dry mountain slopes as well as in moist lowlands or near water. All species prefer well drained and loose soil without major compaction. As far as the lighting conditions are concerned, most of the elephant species feel comfortable in locations that are shaded or partially shaded.

Systematics and distribution

Flower bud (Inula hookeri)
Flower (Inula hookeri)
Great elephant ( Inula magnifica )
Headed elephant ( Inula rhizocephala )
Inula royleana
Common elephant (Inula britannica)
Willow elephant (Inula salicina)

The genus Inula was established by Carl von Linné . The botanical generic name Inula is derived from the Greek word hinaein for emptying, cleaning, this refers to the laxative effect of the drug from the "rootstock". Type species of the genus is Inula helenium L.

Important species and varieties

The afore- mentioned real elephant , which is also known as " Helenenkraut ", "Brustalant" or "Gutkraut" because of its medicinal properties, is originally native to West and Central Asia, but has now grown wild in all of Europe and in western and eastern North America. Real Alant reaches stately heights between one and two meters and has a long tradition in the cottage gardens in Germany. It is similar to the giant elephant, but has smaller flower heads. The robust and deciduous perennial has large, broadly elliptical, wrinkled leaves that are smooth on the upper side, but very hairy with white wool on the underside. It thrives in partial shade and in fresh to moist soils.

The giant elephant, also called large or high elephant, is the largest species within the genus. It is native to the eastern Caucasus, where it grows on moist mountain meadows. The imposing, clump-forming perennial has a bushy habit with numerous upright inflorescences. The giant elephant grows up to 200 centimeters high and 100 centimeters wide in bloom. Not only does it outperform all other elephant species in terms of height, it is also at the forefront in terms of the size of its flowers. The yellow flower heads are up to 15 centimeters wide. The also large, toothed leaves can be up to 50 centimeters long and have tomentose hair on the underside. The stems are tinted purple and branch out more and more towards the top.

There are around 100 species of Inula (selection):

For example, no longer belong to the genus Inula :

The two species of the genus Klebalant ( Dittrichia ):
The species that have been placed in the genus Pentanema :
This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
Other types:

use

Alant species are cultivated mainly because of their pretty, mostly yellow flower heads, some since ancient times. The name Inula has also been in use since Roman times.

The subterranean parts of the plant contain so-called inulin (also: alant starch), a polysaccharide that serves as a reserve carbohydrate and is used as diet sugar after extraction.

Alant as a medicinal plant

As a medicinal plant which is True Elecampane since the ancient times known. The Romans and Greeks already used its roots to relieve gastrointestinal complaints on the one hand and colds on the other . In naturopathy you can still find it today as a component of some cough syrups . It is also said to have a positive effect on biliary and kidney problems . The roots are usually processed into tea or juice, but you can also make ointment from them. The importance of the alant as a medicinal plant has nevertheless declined today. This is mainly due to the fact that many people are allergic to its ingredients. The roots contain numerous essential oils and bitter substances . Alant is hardly used in the kitchen either. It used to be common practice to serve candied root pieces or to season dishes with the aromatic plant.

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literature

  • Peter William Ball, Thomas Gaskell Tutin : Inula L. In: TG Tutin, VH Heywood, NA Burges, DM Moore, DH Valentine, SM Walters, DA Webb (eds.): Flora Europaea . Volume 4: Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae) . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1976, ISBN 0-521-08717-1 , pp. 133–136 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Werner Greuter, Eckhard von Raab-Straube (eds.): Med-Checklist. A critical inventory of vascular plants of the circum-Mediterranean countries . Vol. 2: Dicotyledones (Compositae) . Organization for the Phyto-Taxonomic Investigation of the Mediterranean Area (OPTIMA), Genève 2008, ISBN 978-2-8279-0011-4 , pp. 491-495 .
  • Werner Greuter : Compositae (pro parte majore). In: Werner Greuter, Eckhard von Raab-Straube (ed.): Compositae. Inula - Datasheet In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity. Berlin 2006–2009.
  • David Gutiérrez-Larruscain, Maria Santos-Vicente, Arne A. Anderberg, Enrique Rico, M. Martínez-Ortega: Phylogeny of the Inula group (Asteraceae: Inuleae): evidence from nuclear and plastid genomes and a recircumscription of Pentanema. In: Taxon , Volume 67, 2018, pp. 149–164.
  • Maria Santos-Vicente et al .: Proposal to conserve the name Inula (Asteraceae) with a conserved type. In: Taxon , Volume 61, 2012, pp. 1330-1331.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Alant. In: Ulrike Hanninger, My Beautiful Garden. Burda Senator Verlag GmbH, accessed on June 28, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Neil A. Harriman: Inula. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico . Volume 19: Magnoliophyta: Asteridae, part 6: Asteraceae, part 1 (Mutisieae – Anthemideae). Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford a. a. 2006, ISBN 0-19-530563-9 , pp. 473 (English). , same text online as the printed work .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Inula in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Werner Greuter (2006+): Compositae (pro parte majore). In: Werner Greuter, Eckhard von Raab-Straube (ed.): Compositae. : Datasheet Inula In: Euro + Med Plantbase - the information resource for Euro-Mediterranean plant diversity.
  5. ↑ David Gutiérrez-Larruscain, Maria Santos-Vicente, Arne A. Anderberg Enrique Rico, M. Martínez-Ortega: Phylogeny of the Inula group (Asteraceae: Inuleae): evidence from nuclear and plastid genomes and a recircumscription of Pentanema. In: Taxon , Volume 67, Issue 1, March 2018, pp. 149–164. doi : 10.12705 / 671.10
  6. ↑ Meyers Konversationslexikon . Fourth edition. Publishing house of the Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna 1885–1892

Web links

Wiktionary: Alant  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Alante ( Inula )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files